


King of Wishful Thinking

by Maeve_of_Winter



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, F/M, Imaginary Friends, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-19 17:01:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13708791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maeve_of_Winter/pseuds/Maeve_of_Winter
Summary: Kevin has stopped dating after having his heart broken by Moose Mason. The problem is, as Veronica finds, that Moose Mason does not actually exist.Written for the Tumblr prompt: "Kevin hallucinates Moose out of loneliness. Veronica finds out."





	King of Wishful Thinking

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to everyone reading! If you ever want to chat, here's my [Tumblr](http://maeve-of-winter.tumblr.com/). I love discussion and hearing people's thoughts, so feel free to submit ideas or just talk Riverdale.

It was only after Veronica got together with Archie that she realized she’d never heard so much as a word spoken from Kevin about any kind of crush or boyfriend. She asked him about it one day when he was giving her a ride home from River Vixens practice after he himself had finished up with wrestling.

“So, I’m with Archie, and Betty is with Jughead, but what about you?” she gave him a friendly nudge with her elbow. “Got your eye on anyone? Has someone stolen your heart away?”

Kevin laughed, and Veronica wasn’t sure, but she thought she detected a trace of discomfort.

“There is someone,” he admitted. “Or was, really. But I think, well . . .” he shrugged. “I’m still carrying a torch even though we’re over.”

Veronica looked at him in surprise. “All this time you’ve been having some ill-fated romance, and you haven’t told me?” She wondered briefly if Betty knew. “Who is it?”

“A football player in our year. His name is Moose Mason. We had a fling together over the summer, but it ended before the school year began.” Kevin kept his eyes carefully focused on the road in front of him. “I think I wanted him more than he wanted me, because he went back to his old girlfriend, Midge Klump, when school started again.”

“Oh, Kev, that sucks. I’m so sorry,” Veronica said sympathetically, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Still, you deserve better than a guy like that. I hope Midge knows what she’s getting into with him.” 

She had no idea who Moose Mason was, and she wasn’t sure if they’d ever met, but she knew Midge from the River Vixens. An honor student and one of the nicest girls on the squad, Midge was very likeable, and Veronica was friendly with her even if she didn’t know her all that well. 

“Thanks, Ronnie.” Ken offered her a small smile. “I think it taught me a lesson, though, that I should be careful about who I get involved with. That’s one of the reasons I don’t really date anyone. I don’t want to end up wasting my time with someone who’s just going to ditch me later on.”

Veronica frowned. “You can’t let one jerk ruin the rest of your life. I know he hurt you, but that’s no reason to never date anyone ever again.”

Kevin shrugged. “It’s not like it really matters. I don’t exactly have anyone lining up to date me, you know?” He pulled his truck to a halt in front of the Pembrooke. “Don’t worry about it, seriously. I don’t mind.”

“Hmph.” Veronica leaned in and gave Kevin a light kiss on the cheek. “Well, if I could date you, I totally would. And if you ever need help finding the right guy, I’ll be there to help you out.”

“Thanks.” Kevin said graciously. “That’s really nice of you.”

“It’s no problem,” Veronica reassured him.

Later that night, she mused briefly on what Kevin had said, feeling somewhat downcast for her friend. To used and cast aside like that must have been awful. But she could help. Veronica resolved that at the next opportunity, she would begin scouting out potential new boyfriends to mend Kevin’s broken heart. And if she ever met Moose Mason, she would be sure to give him a piece of her mind.

But what she didn’t know at the time was that she never would have the chance to speak to Moose Mason. As it happened, Moose Mason wasn’t real.

She found out the truth when she mentioned him in conversation to Midge when they were discussing the Homecoming Dance.

“I’ll be going, but just with a group of friends instead of a date,” Midge said. “No guy has asked me, but I’m not going to let that stop me from having fun.”

“No one’s asked you?” Veronica repeated in surprise. “Aren’t you going with Moose?”

“Moose?” A quizzical frown creased Midge’s forehead. “Who’s that?”

Veronica faltered slightly. “Well, I mean, he’s your boyfriend isn’t he? Moose Mason?” She tried to remember exactly what Kevin had told her. “Haven’t you been dating him for a long time?”

Midge sent her a puzzled glance. “I’ve never heard of anybody named Moose Mason, and the last guy I dated was Reggie Mantle, but that only lasted about a month this past spring.” Picking up her gym bag, she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, obviously uncomfortable. “I’ve got to go. See you tomorrow.” With a hasty wave, she hurried to the exit, clearly thrown by the conversation.

With a scowl, Veronica watched her go, her mind spinning. Kevin had lied to her about Moose and Midge. But why? 

Reaching for her phone, she was halfway through an outraged text message to him, but then she forced himself to calm down and put her phone away. She was too angry now about looking like a fool in front of Midge for any conversation between herself and Kevin to be productive. She would wait, at least for a little while.

* * *

 

The next day at lunch, Veronica confronted Kevin.

“So, funny thing,” she said, setting her tray down their normal lunch table outside beneath the massive, gnarled oak tree. She was the last one to arrive; Kevin was already there, along with Archie, Jughead, and Betty.

“I talked to Midge the other day,” Veronica went on. “Her boyfriend came up in conversation, and you know what? Not only did she say she’d never dated Moose Mason, but she didn’t even know anyone by that name.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Care to tell me why you spun me a fabricated tale of lost love that left you forlorn and wanting instead of just being honest?”

All three of their other friends reacted instantaneously at the name “Moose Mason.” Jughead sent her a sharp look, and Archie stiffened, his back going ramrod straight and his eyes opening wide. Betty dug an elbow into Veronica’s ribs, and simply shook her head when Veronica whirled to look at her questioningly, a plain urge for her to stop talking.

Ignoring Betty’s warning, Veronica turned back to Kevin. “Well? Why did you make up that stuff about Moose and Midge?”

Confusion written all over his face, Kevin abandoned his salad, laying down his fork to look at her. “I didn’t,” he said earnestly. “Moose ditched me to date Midge. I never lied to you.”

“That’s right,” Archie added hurriedly.

Betty nodded rapidly, her ponytail bobbing up and down. “Yes. Moose went from dating Midge to dating Kevin to back to dating Midge. That’s exactly what happened.”

Baffled, Veronica glanced from one of her friends to the other, wondering why they were suddenly giving Kevin their unquestioning support. However, when her eyes met Jughead’s, he recognized her bewilderment, gave her a short nod, and then stood.

“Hey, you still owe me that ice cream from earlier, remember?” he clapped Veronica on the shoulder. “Why don’t you buy it for me now? Come on, let’s go back to the lunch line.” 

It was a transparent attempt to get her away; she didn’t actually owe him anything. But flummoxed by the current situation as she was, she let Jughead take her by the arm and steer her away, only shaking him off once they were back inside and out of hearing range.

“What was that about?” she demanded, yanking her arm away from him. “Kevin just lied to me and everyone takes his side? What’s going on?”

“He didn’t lie to you,” Jughead told her. 

Veronica rolled eyes. “Please. Midge said she’d never dated Moose. In fact, she had no idea who he was! I’m beginning to think he isn’t even real.”

“He’s not,” Jughead informed her bluntly.

Veronica stared at him. “What?”

He heaved a sigh and beckoned her to follow him. “Come on. I still want an ice cream.”

Veronica followed him back to the lunch line, waiting as he grabbed a chocolate eclair bar from the freezer. He didn’t talk again until they stood in the queue for their turn at the register.

“Moose Mson doesn’t exist except for in Kevin’s imagination,” he explained, his voice low and serious. “He began talking about him toward the end of this summer. He just . . . I don’t know. He ianvented this fake relationship with this imaginary guy. I don’t know what prompted it, but all of the sudden, he had this story where he was dating this guy Moose, but then things went wrong and Moose dumped him. None of this stuff actually happened, but Kevin doesn’t realize that. He’s not aware that he’s lying. I guess . . .” Jughead gave an uncomfortable shrug. “I guess that in Kevin’s mind, all of that really did happen.” 

Barely able to comprehend what she was being told, Veronica shook her head. “But why would he imagine something so sad for himself? If his mind was going to create this story about Moose, why not something happy?”

“I don’t know,” Jughead replied flatly. “If I had to guess, I would say it’s a defense mechanism. Like, maybe he’s lonely and doesn’t have anyone to date, so he invents this story to explain where it’s not that he can’t date anyone, he just doesn’t want to because of a bad experience. I mean, frankly, having your heart broken and then being unwilling to trust again sounds a whole lot less pathetic than being desperate to find someone but still remaining dateless because no one wants to date you.”

Veronica blew out a long breath. She remained silent as Jughead paid for his ice cream and then walked back with her toward the doors.

“It’s so sad,” she murmured as they made their way outside again. She looked at Jughead. “Has he ever done this about anything else? Just totally invented some person or backstory?”

“No,” Jughead said firmly. “Archie, Betty, and I talk about this Moose thing every once in a while, and we check in with each other about how Kevin’s doing. As far as we know, Moose and anything to do with him is the only thing Kevin’s ever imagined this way.”

They were getting closer to their table and running out of time to talk. Veronica used the little time she had left to ask one last question. 

“Does his dad know that this is going on?” she queried softly. 

Jughead looked away, instead concentrating on tearing the wrapper off of his eclair bar. “We didn’t see the need to tell him. I mean, we keep an eye on Kevin ourselves, you know? There’s no need to worry anyone else.”

“Hmm,” was Veronica’s only response, somewhat dubious of their collective decision to keep an obvious symptom of illness a secret. But she pasted a smile on her face the time being and only asked Betty about it later on.

“No one else can know,” Betty said firmly, emphatically slamming shut her locker door as she turned to look at Veronica. “Listen, I’ve never told anyone about this, but my sister, Polly? The reason she doesn’t live with us anymore is because my parents didn’t like the way she was acting, so they sent her away to live at a youth home. I’m not going to let anyone else I love be taken away. Not if I can help it.”

Seeing Betty’s determination, it was with great reluctance that Veronica found herself keeping Kevin’s imaginary ex boyfriend a secret. It wasn’t difficult to stop herself from contradicting Kevin—he never once brought Moose up in conversation again. But the idea that their friend needed help that they were preventing him from receiving weighed heavily on her conscience

Still, she wanted to do what she could to amend the situation. And, social creature that she was, Veronica figured the best way she could help was by finding Kevin a real boyfriend. 

Trying to get a general sense about what Kevin’s type of guy was, she prodded at him about Moose as casually as she could.

“So, when you were dating Moose, what was your draw to him?” she asked, keeping her voice as natural as possible. “Was it his body, his personality, his sense of humor, or something like that? Did you have a lot in common?”

Kevin pondered her question for a long moment, and Veronica had to bite her lip to prevent herself from rambling nervously just to fill the silence, or even laying out the truth to him. Even in spite of Betty and Jughead’s advice, she still wasn’t sure indulging Kevin’s delusions was the best way to proceed.

“We had sports in common,” Kevin said finally. “Moose and I are both athletes. But as for what brought us together, well . . .” he shrugged. “It was just nice to have someone, you know? To be with someone who wanted to be with me, even if just for a short time.”

Veronica nodded a little bit too enthusiastically, feeling like a bobblehead, and when she spoke, her voice was overly bright even to her own ears. “Right, right, I hear you,” she said, her heart cracking slightly at Kevin’s words and the veins of longing evident within them. She knew then that she absolutely had to make good on her mission to help Kevin find someone to ease his loneliness.

So, when a section of the Southside High students merged with the Riverdale High students and she spotted a few of the guys casting longing glances in Kevin’s direction, she made a point of bringing them over to make the introductions herself. 

“Kevin, I want you to meet two of our transfer students,” she said with a sweep of her arm. “Kevin Keller, this is Fangs Fogarty and Sweet Pea.”

“Hi,” Kevin said with a polite smile.

“Hey,” Sweet Pea said with a casual nod, but his eyes betrayed him: he couldn’t keep his gaze off of Kevin.

Fangs didn’t bother to put on airs. “Hey. We’ve seen you around. It’s really good to meet you.” 

“Thanks,” Kevin said. He rubbed his neck self-consciously, clearly shy. “How are you finding Riverdale High so far?”

Veronica took the chance to jump in. “Actually, Kevin, Fangs and Sweet Pea were just telling me they’re going to start a tabletop gaming club with Jughead and Toni. Maybe you could give them some advice, with your Kingdom of Theodore game and all?”

A surprised expression crossed Kevin’s face, but he still nodded enthusiastically. “Sure, I’d love to. What do you need help with?” 

Eagerly taking seats beside Kevin, the two Serpents launched into a detailed explanation, and Veronica couldn’t help but feel proud of herself for a job well done. And the next week, when she stopped by Pop’s for a shake with Archie and spotted Kevin nestled in a booth between Fangs and Sweet Pea, she couldn’t help a smile of satisfaction.

Reviving Kevin’s dating life certainly wouldn’t solve all of his problems. But it was the first step to helping him feel less lonely, and Veronica was glad to be able to help her friend, even if just the slightest bit.    

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to everyone reading! If you ever want to chat, here's my [Tumblr](http://maeve-of-winter.tumblr.com/). I love discussion and hearing people's thoughts, so feel free to submit ideas or just talk Riverdale.


End file.
